Honoring Fathers

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” (Exodus 20:12, ESV).

     The fifth of the Ten Commandments and the first with an expressed promise teaches us that we are to honor both our parents.  “Honor” involves love, respect, appreciation, looking up to and accepting the leadership of.  And, of course, parents are to lead lives “worthy of respect.” 

     Did you know that there are some 70 million fathers in the United States?  Many of these are responsible adults and are seeking to rear their children well.  But many, unfortunately, are “absentee fathers” who have abdicated—or never accepted—responsibility for children’s upbringing.

     A little history of Father’s Day shows that Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington suggested a day to honor fathers in 1910.  She wanted to respect the memory of her own father, William Jackson Smart, a Civil War Veteran who reared six children, herself and five brothers, as a single parent after the death of his wife and their mother.  She suggested to her pastor that a day be set aside to honor fathers, much as Mother’s Day.  That was done first in Spokane in 1910.  The day was pushed somewhat by President Woodrow Wilson and by President Calvin Coolidge.  It was not until 1966 that President Lyndon Johnson signed a Father’s Day presidential proclamation. Then in 1972 President Richard Nixon made Father’s Day officially the third Sunday in June by proclamation.

     Like Sonora Smart Dodd’s father, my own dear father lost companions to death and reared two “sets” of children after their mother’s death.  He manifested great faith, love, patience, endurance and example, and I am the beneficiary.  I am so grateful for a godly father. 

     Dr. B. B. McKinney, noted hymnologist of the last century, wrote this prayer in his hymn, “God Give Us Christian Homes”:  “God give us Christian homes! /Homes where the father is true and strong,/Homes that are free from the blight of wrong,/Homes that are joyous with love and song,/God give us Christian homes!/God give us Christian homes!”  May his words be our prayer for this Father’s Day!  And Happy Father’s Day—all you wonderful fathers who might read this!  -Ethelene Dyer Jones  06.16.2013